Now that Thanksgiving is over...

It's time for Christmas.

I was able to decorate this weekend and even finished my shopping.

Now hopefully I can relax and enjoy the season. (if only I knew how to relax...)

I had so much fun shopping with Missy the day after Thanksgiving. We got up early, waited outside of Target in the freezing cold for over a half an hour. We pushed our way into the store, threw our cart at a pregnant girl (hey, it's her fault for getting in the way) and ran to get our treasures. Ok, so it wasn't *that* dramatic, but it was a lot of fun.

I was able to go to Birch Run with my mom at the end of the weekend and help her with her shopping. She did some major damage. We filled my tiny car with boxes and bags and I could barely see out the back window. I think she is close to being done as well. We had good food, good conversation and lots of laughs.

I love this time of year!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe it is here. Thanksgiving Day. This year seems to have gone so fast. We are at my parents house right now with Jack and Danielle and kids. The kids are having so much fun playing together. Noah is in an especially great mood and is so cute to watch.

The women got the turkey ready, peeled potatoes, prepared some snacks. The men are wathing the Loins loose.

It is so nice to not have homework hanging over my head. I finally feel like I can relax. It's great.

I am eagerly awaiting Missy's phone call. She is at work today, but we need to talk and get a plan of action together for tomorrow morning. We are braving the crowds and starting our Christmas shopping bright and early. It is one of my favorite mornings all year. I also look forward to going out to breakfast. I am a big fan of food.

Speaking of food, I have to get going. I still have to make the corn bread pudding and get it in the oven. Can't let the men down.

I did it!!

Yes, I am finished. All of my tests, projects, preparations are a thing of the past. Well, almost. I still have those pesky State Boards to pass, but nothing more at Grand Rapids Community College. My plan??? Sleep. Spend time with my boys. Get some projects completed around the house. Yes, I will get a job, but I am trying not to get too worked up about that at least until I have a test date for my boards. I would like a small break.

The rest of the family is hanging in there. Ryan got sick Sunday night (he always seems to get sick before my finals) but he is doing much better.

I took Noah to the specialist today and I finally feel like we have some answers. Most of his problems stem from having RSV last February. The doctor said "RSV induced asthma". He has some sort of plan formulated in his mind. I am not sure all that he is thinking, but I do know what we have to do. Increase his medications (not what I had hoped to hear), but supposedly doing that now means getting rid of them later.

I have to have a CT scan of my head. No, not because I am crazy, but apparently it is not normal to always have a headache.

Other than that, things are great. I am looking forward to some much needed time with my family, reconnecting with my friends and getting some rest. Until I go back to school, that is.

We're almost there...

Yes we are. Only seven days of class left. But we are tired. At our clinical site, you can tell us apart from everyone else. We are the ones with blood shot eyes and expressionless faces. We go about our day, determined to do everything correctly, but in the back of our minds we are only thinking about one thing...sleep. If only we could sleep. But there is no time for that. In the next week we still have so much to do. We have prep for our new patients, we have a paper due, we have a presentation to prepare for (of course, none of us have started it yet), we have online assessments to take and, of course, we have a final exam. All of that around 35 hours of class/clinical time during the week. We desperately try not to neglect our families, but we do.

Yes, you can see who we are. Looking down the hallways, we are there. Crawling through our day, desperate to make it to bedtime. We are almost excited about the idea of completing our program, but we can't think about that right now. So much to do. Not enough time.

We drink coffee, tea, diet coke and eat anything that we think may give us the slightest bit of energy. It usually doesn't help, but it is always worth a try. Anything that may help us reach our goal: getting to next Friday, alive, awake and successful.

Dinnertime!

Missy, Anna and Matthias came over tonight. The kids played for a while, then ate dinner together. They talked about religion and politics, and still left the table as friends.

I love having them come over. My best friend and her babies, spending time with me and my babies. I hope they will be friends forever.

Fun at the Symphony

Friday night Rob and I went on the longest date recorded in our history. It lasted from 6pm until after midnight (yes, way past my bedtime). We went to dinner at the 750 Grill, went to the symphony concert and then went with Ang and Ryan to the City Cafe for appetizers and dessert. I also had my first Cosmopolitan. Can't really say I really liked it, but for $6.25, I finished it.

It was a fun night. Nice to spend so much time with Rob, wonderful to hear good music and really fun to sit and talk and laugh with our friends.

The best part is that we get to do it again. There is another concert in December and we just happen to have tickets. I can hardly wait.

Tonight's Quote

"The eyes are the groin of the head"

-Dwight Schrute

Happy Halloween!